


Flash That Smile, It's An Industry Of Service

by Nevz1247 (orphan_account)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Background Relationships, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Umbara is a Spooky Place, ahsoka and rex are best bros, clone feels, him and cody too, playing with lightsabers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:13:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23767498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Nevz1247
Summary: He was heaving slightly, uncaring that he’d lost count of the droids he shot down. His heart beat gradually slowed down until it was normal, and he holstered his pistols. He took his helmet off to simply allow himself tobreathe, the smoke and smell of melted metal infiltrating his senses. Suddenly, a firm hand came up from behind him and gripped his shoulder, squeezing it tight and strongly. He didn't have to look to know who was touching him.“Sir,” Rex said, turning himself slightly so he could face Skywalker. The jedi wore a grin,and damn him for acting like he didn’t just throw himself into a suicide bomber.“Glad to see you made it back.”Skywalker smiled, all teeth. “What? Did you think I wouldn’t?”That smile was contagious, and Rex felt the corners of his lips being upturned against his volition in return. He couldn't keep a straight face to save his life when that smile was turned on him. “Of course not, sir. Not even for a second.”
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi (background), CT-7567 | Rex/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 12
Kudos: 149





	Flash That Smile, It's An Industry Of Service

The water was set to boil, searing his skin in the best possible way with it’s heat. All he desired at the moment was a hot shower — the kind of shower that was long and made one temporarily forget about everything that surrounded them and just focus on being clean. He watched in fascination as the soot and dirt came off of him, pooling around his feet in a puddle of brown and red and black muck before whirling down the drain, never to be seen again.

Rex sighed. His muscles ached, but if asked he would say that the worst of it all was the bruises he just _knew_ would appear on his body the following day. The 501st had come back from a long and grueling campaign on _Mimban_ — the planet was swampy and thick and virtually a _chore_ to be on. They hadn’t had many casualties, but they did get battered around some. The brunt of the torture in Rex’s personal opinion was merely the treading and walking on the planet, though. Regardless, Rex was tired and exhaustion pulled at his limbs like added weights, but he wasn’t about to sleep covered with the grime that wormed its way through the openings of his armor plates.

Water cascaded down his body, almost soothing his unconsciously tense muscles as it delved and dipped over every curve and plane of his frame. He ran a hand down the flat plane of his stomach, wincing when he accidentally pressed too hard on a sensitive collecting bruise. He _always_ felt dirty in a way, inside and out; but then again, that was his life. From the day he came out of his pod to the day he fought his first battle, he was clean — but war, responsibilities of lives, and lives lost just had ways of making him dirty in an indescribable manner that no shower could ever clean off.

He decided not to dwell on it, because it wasn’t like he could _change_ it. He rubbed his skin with a washcloth and inhaled the sharp familiar scent of citrus the standard army soap possessed, grounding himself with it. Bending over to work at his legs had been a difficulty, and, _yeah_ , he _definitely_ tweaked something in his back.

Rex only turned off the water nozzle once the steam had started to overwhelm him and his skin turned very bright red. He felt as though he was selfish for having his own captain’s quarters because he had his own ‘fresher. Granted, it was the same size as the ones the rest of his brothers had, but his was private and he had no time or water limits. The positives outweighed out the negatives, and he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Rex slipped on a clean pair of blacks, the comforting elastic material sticking to every nook and cranny of his body like a second protective skin. He collapsed onto his mattress that felt like a brick most nights, and he might’ve bothered to go under the covers if he hadn’t fallen asleep before his head hit the pillow.

* * *

“No, Fives. I don’t know what it is, but the answer’s no.”

“But —“

“ _No_ , Fives.”

“We could totally blow all those droids to absolute bits if we could all just have —“

“ _Fives!_ I said no! _Especially_ not if it involves explosions.”

“You aren’t _listening_ to me, sir. I think it would be _very_ tactically beneficial if everybody had a rocket launcher. It’s not as though they’re that difficult to use, and honestly just think of the advantage we would have! Those seps wouldn’t stand a chance if we just had masses of launchers —“

“Fives. No is no. And the answer is only no because I would never, and I mean _never_ allow Hardcase to touch a rocket launcher. End of discussion.”

“Yes, Sir.” Fives grumbled in defeat, his brows furrowing in annoyance before he turned away to presumably speak to Echo. Rex sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. It wasn’t as though Fives’ idea was even _that_ bad, there was just no way it would happen — and sometimes he had a hard time keeping his confounding headaches at bay when it came to his _surprisingly_ childish troopers.

They were about to be deployed again, and he had yet to find out where. The whole battalion was idly standing around, some were even sitting as they awaited orders and plans, boredom written all across their identical faces. Rex himself was lazily lounging on some crates that were filled with something he didn’t exactly know; one leg was propped up and the other freely dangled down. He didn’t usually allow himself to be so nonchalant in front his men, but he was rather preoccupied by observing them and the boredom of waiting around _this_ long even started to eat at him.

It was so, _so easy_ to tell which ones were shines or newcomers that hadn’t seen that much action; one didn’t have to look at their armor to be able to tell. The battle hardened stood with carefree stances, their demeanors laid back as they spoke amongst each other with blasé attitudes. _They had been there and seen that already_ , as Cody would say. The newcomers had nervous energy amongst them, their bodies practically vibrating with excitement, nervousness, and even fear wrapped into one. They were stiff and spoke to each other in hushed tones. A few even wore smiles, and Rex felt a sharp little twinge in his chest. 

_Won't be long 'till those smiles disappear._

He was halted in his thoughts when a voice grabbed his attention.

“Hey, Rex!”

He cleared his throat. “ _Ah_ — Hello, Commander Tano.”

Ahsoka stood before the captain, and he undoubtedly scrambled a little to _at least_ sit up some when she spoke to him. She chuckled a little, placing a hand on her hip and also leaning against a crate with one arm. “Guess we’re all just bored here, huh?”

“It would appear so, sir,” Rex said. “If you’re here, does that mean they’re done with the pre-planning?” He asked. She rolled her eyes, and looked back at him, “To be honest with you, I don’t even know — Master and Obi-Wan are at each other again. You know, with the ‘No, Anakin, that would be absolutely disastrous,’ and Master’s ‘No, Master, you’re wrong—‘ _blah, blah, blah_. The best part is that Master usually wins him over.”

A laugh escaped him at her freakishly good impressions, his chest feeling warm. “Have you been practicing that, sir?”

She smiled, “Nah, practice is unneeded if you hear it often enough.” Rex nodded in agreement, and he almost _expected_ their quarreling to be the reason behind the hold up. For a moment the two stood in silence, each comfortable enough with the other’s presence not to move or speak non-casually. He wouldn’t admit it, but the togruta had become something akin to a sibling to him, and she had repeatedly told him that he was her favorite person at times. He resumed watching his brothers, the silence stretching on for some time.

“ _Oh!_ I gotta show you something I learned,” The padawan said suddenly, grabbing his attention again. He cocked a brow in interest, and she held her up hands in front of her. “Look,” she said, and Rex trained his eyes on her hands in curiosity. Within a few seconds, she had skillfully twisted and looped her fingers around themselves to make a strange concoction. He confusedly looked at her face with a little bit of horror because _how did she wrap her fingers like that —_

“It’s a frog! Look!” She said, turning so that he could finally see what she meant. Sure enough, she folded her extremities into what looked like the face of a frog, the mouth that consisted of her thumbs and forefingers opening and closing. “Looks more like a Hutt," he said, and she shook her head. "How did you do that?” He then asked, genuinely interested.

For the next few minutes, she showed him precisely what she had done with her hands. At first, he couldn’t grasp the concept of how to wrap his middle fingers around his ring and pinkie fingers, but eventually he got it. He let himself smile, because it was just so childish and simple yet it looked so difficult to achieve. Ahsoka was beaming next to him, practically radiating sunshine, and it was infectious. Rex felt his mood lift. “Well, I can say I’ve unlocked all of life’s secrets,” he said with mild sarcasm, undoing his fingers and flexing them repeatedly.

She laughed at that. “Just wait until I show you more, I’ve got a whole collection —“

"General on deck!" Somebody shouted. Sure enough, every trooper stood ramrod still. 

“Hey, snips! Rex! With me,” came the familiar voice of a certain General. "And, hey guys, at ease. C'mon now."

Within a second, the pair sprang up from their temporary lounge and quickly paced to General Skywalker. He offered Rex a nod in greeting before speaking with a slight twinge of smugness, “Alright. _My_ plan is a go — let’s head out. We’ll be rendezvousing with the 212th, so go tell your men we’re leaving now. I'll brief you on the transport.”

“Told you,” Ahoska sing-sang to the captain, and he shook his head before saluting to his general who was giving the padawan a nice side eye. “Sir, yes sir.” 

* * *

They landed on Ryloth, an aesthetically pleasing planet from above with it’s unique architecture and swooping sky scrapers. It was almost _nice_ if the waves upon waves of separatist droids and tankers on the floor went ignored.

However, right now, they couldn’t be ignored.

They had one mission, and it was simple, really — the 501st along with the 212th were to shoot down droid forces and force a retreat. And it was going relatively smoothly. What they _didn’t_ count on, though, was the droid army pulling back on their own volition and activating a powerful ray shield that allowed absolutely _nothing_ to penetrate it. And that meant that the Republic’s tankers and troopers would be completely unprotected as soon as the shield containing the droids went past their battle lines. Rex could say that many days didn’t go well for him, but this one was by far one of the most stressful he’s had in a _while_.

Not to mention the suicide mission Skywalker deemed himself to accomplish.

“Alright,” said Skywalker. “I’m gonna have to sneak past that shield, and I’ve got a plan to turn it off.”

Rex paused from his firing, both of his hands aching from gripping the butt of his blasters and the constant trigger pulling. “Sir?” He started. “Sir, that’s far too dangerous, you can’t—“ The general interrupted him and looked at him with uncertainty, almost like he was _guilty_. “I’ve got to leave you and the men alone if I’m gonna get that shield down, Rex. There's no way around it.”

“You can’t, General. You'd be charging right into enemy lines. We can’t lose you —“ _Please don't._

“Rex,” Skywalker interrupted again. “I will get that shield down in time for the artillery to be saved. But I _gotta_ count on you to hold the fort down here."

And Rex understood. His general had never let him down, _not once_. Being with his jedi at his side made Rex feel like he could do anything, it made him feel _invincible_ — but he knew the mission came first. Yes, they would be losing men, but they’d lose a lot more if that shield didn’t come down. And if they weren’t being bombarded by blaster fire and shot shells, Rex would tell him that because his general just _cared that deeply_. “It’s alright, sir,” he said, standing straight and feigning the perfect amount of confidence that he didn’t have. “Me and the boys got it covered.”

The Jedi gave him a small smile and a nod that left him feeling lighter than air when he turned around to charge into the shield, lightsaber lit and swooshing. Rex took a deep breath and peaked over the broken paneling of a building he decided to use for cover, the screams of his men that went down next to him like an ongoing staccato that never ended. “Come on!” He screamed at his battalion, willing them to keep fighting. He resumed his own firing, the chaos wholly surrounding him. He let the gears that were wired in his brain take over and grind : _shoot once, then twice, then go back for cover. Get back up, shoot twice more, then four times on each side, then back down. Repeat._

He wouldn’t say it aloud, _of course not_ , but he worried for his general. He was an incredible jedi, one of the best Rex had ever _seen_ , and he used that his reasoning for his worries. But he knew it ran deeper than that — he had grown rather close and comfortable with his general in a way he hadn’t with his other superiors. Skywalker liked to call even call them _friends_. To lose a friend, not just a general, _not just a superior_ , hurt more — far too much.

Next to him, a shiny got blasted, the plasma shooting straight through his shoulder and almost taking his limb off. It seemed to barely hang on, and the trooper let out a shattering _shriek,_ dropping to his knees and wailing. Rex immediately dropped down to his side, gripping his other shoulder and shouting for a medic that he knew wouldn't be available. _Kriff, kriff, kriff._ Red pooled around the trooper, but the bleeding thankfully wasn't in extremely copious amounts since the heat of the blaster seemed to cauterize the wound.

"Sir, I -" the kid choked out, his body convulsing in shock. His voice was light and high, he was definitely very young. 

_Damn._

"Look at me, kid," Rex said. " _Look at me_." The white helmet tilted up. "You're gonna be fine, alright? It's a shoulder wound, and it's cauterized." That helmet tilted further up to his own, seeking comfort, and he squeezed the kid's shoulder. "You're going to hold that arm _close_ and take cover. _Don't_ let go of that arm, alright? It'll be alright, we're gonna get you a medic. Sit tight, trooper."

The helmet bobbed back and forth, and he could tell that the kid was losing it. His body was shaking, and he fell backwards, collapsing to the floor; he was still breathing though unable to move. 

_Kriff. The shock's got 'im._

“Sir! They’re getting _too close_ , there’s nothin’ we can do about it!” Fives shouted at Rex, at his righthand side where he always stood. “We’re losin’ men left and right, and the Seps are just gettin’ closer. We aren’t gonna be coming outta this if we don’t retreat!” Rex clenched his jaw with mild irritation and fear, didn’t Fives _know_ that he knew this would be ending badly?

_I know. Kriff._

And it was true. The droid forces were getting closer and closer. Rex knew they were going to lose, they were all going to get trampled on and shot to death. There would be no negations, and surrender would be useless; the separatists weren’t as willing as they once were before in the earlier times of the war. He knew it all, but despite that, he looked at his righthand man and yelled. “ _Keep firing_ , Fives! The General will get there in time!”

_Gods, where is he?_

The droids were just short of one-hundred meters by now. They had nowhere else to retreat to, nowhere else to take cover. Men fell left and right, the sickening sounds of bodies falling everywhere.

_He’s late. He didn’t make it._

"Hey! Look!" Came a shout from somewhere on his left. 

Just when it seemed like it would all end, that red shield suddenly came down. It was almost comical, really, how those damned droids halted and looked around whilst flinching when it dissipated. Rex felt like jumping or yelling, relief and awe and happiness overwhelming him all at once. He _hated_ that he had doubted his general, and he felt twinges of shame about it — but it all disappeared when he saw that familiar bight blue lightsaber swinging left and right in the distance. 

“Alright, boys, give them hell!”

The battle’s intensity toned down once the shield fell, the sounds of the droids falling and metal crunching the most satisfying thing. The rest became a blur to the captain as he lost himself in the fight, blaster fire whizzing past his helmet at speeds faster than sound but never hitting him. It only stopped once the Separatists fell back, and they were given the order to cease fire.

He was heaving slightly, uncaring he’d lost count of the droids he shot down. His heart beat gradually slowed down until it was normal, and he holstered his pistols. He took his helmet off to simply allow himself to _breathe_ , the smoke and smell of melted metal infiltrating his senses. Suddenly, a firm hand came up from behind him and gripped his shoulder, squeezing it tight and strongly. He didn't have to look to know who was touching him.

“Sir,” Rex said, turning himself slightly so he could face Skywalker. The jedi wore a grin, _and damn him for acting like he didn’t just throw himself into a suicide bomber._ “Glad to see you made it back.”

Skywalker smiled, all teeth. “What? Did you think I wouldn’t?”

That smile was contagious, and Rex felt the corners of his lips being upturned against his volition in return. He couldn't keep a straight face to save his life when that smile was turned on him. “Of course not, sir. Not even for a second.”

_Liar._

Skywalker just huffed something that vaguely resembled a laugh, and gave Rex’s shoulder a squeeze where the shoulder plate didn’t cover part of his deltoid and trapezius. The spots where those fingers dug into flesh _burned_ in their wake, and Rex let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fanfic I'm posting on this account of mine because I deleted my last account to get a fresh start. In case anybody was wondering, the title is a lyric from the song 'Run the Road' by Santigold. The chapter title is also in latin!
> 
> Sorry that the first chapter is also kinda boring and maybe a little slow, there’s more to come after. Anyways, I have feels for this pairing, and I just feel like their relationship is always slept upon. Also, there's an extreme lack of Rex/Anakin fanfics, so I'm just doing my part to fight the injustice. Any comments, suggestions, or even corrections are always welcome!! I just know I misspelled a few things because I've decided to write the bulk of this at 2 am.
> 
> A side note : I had to change the timeline of the battle of Ryloth and what went down in it a little, so it's slightly off course from what happened canonically. I'll most likely be changing more things, but that's to come later.
> 
> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading! ✰ ✰


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